Improvement in paintings and banners



G. FBOHE.

Paintingsand Banners.

Patented March 30,1875.

HE GRAPHIC C0.PHUTOU H.39&4I PARK PLACE,.'LY..

GOTTFRIED FROHE, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN PAINTINGS AND BANNERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 161,499, dated March 30, 1875 application filed February 28, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gor'rrmnn FRoHn, of the city of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have in vented certain Improvements in Paintings, of which the followin g is a specification:

My invention relates more especially to that class of paintings which are designed to be applied to flags, banners, &c.; and it consists of a pain ting made on a background of velvet, and the process thereof, as hereinafter fully described.

In the accompanying drawing is represented a banner provided with one of my improved paintings.

Previous to my invention pictures for banners and flags have been principally produced by painting on canvas, or by embroidering the same, and also by a combination of these two methods, which consisted in painting the more delicate portions of the picture, such as the face and flesh portions of a figure, while the rest, such as the background, garments, &c., were embroidered. Oil-paintings on canvas are not well adapted for use on flags, for the reason that the gloss or reflection peculiar to the oil-paintings prevents the picture from being properly seen, except in one particular position, while the picture of a banner, when in use, is viewed from all possible positions. The movements of the flag to which the canvas picture is applied also causes the hard oilpaint to crack, which mars the good appearance, and in the course of time destroys the picture. Embroidered pictures, although obviating some of the above difliculties, are objectionable, for the reason that they are very expensive, and do not present a smooth appearance when viewed from a short distance, while they also make the flags to which they are applied very heavy.

All of these dificulties and objections I have overcome by painting the picture or design on a background of velvet, in such manner that only the nap or shag of the velvet is covered with the oil-paint, while the body thereof is either left of its original color, or only lightly tinged with a suitable ground-color, that does not materially affect its pliability.

In painting a picture or design on a single sheet or piece of uncolored velvet, 1 first lay out the contours thereof on the nap of the material, and then apply to the different portions thereof the required ground-colors,which I mix with turpentine, or other suitable volatile vehicle, to such a consistency that they will readily penetrate the nap to the body of the velvet. The turpentine evaporates speedily, and leaves the groundcolors loosely distributed over the body of the velvet without changing in any material degree its pliability. When the ground is prepared in this manner, I paint the picture on the nap of the velvet in a similar manner, and with the same kind of oil-colors as in painting on canvas, the brushes employed being preferably stiffer and the colors mixed somewhat drier than when used in painting on canvas. The oilcolors adhering only to the ends of the nap, fibers of the velvet do not render the fabric stiff and unyielding, as they would if applied to the body thereof. The cracking of the painted surface is thereby prevented, and a most durable picture produced.

It is obvious from the nature of the material,.that such a painting will present a soft appearance, entirely free from that harshness of outline and detail which characterizes a painting on canvas when used on flags and banners. In some instances, especially when a picture consists of large portions of the same ground-color, as in the representation of garments, &c., it is of advantage to make the main portions of the background, upon which the picture is painted, of pieces of differentlycolored velvet, corresponding as nearly as may be with the required size and colors of the different portions of the picture. These pieces are fitted together and sewed, or otherwise secured to an underlaying piece of canvas, when the required shades and details can be painted thereon, obviating the necessity of applying ground-colors to the body of these colored portions of the velvet. The seams or boundaries of the different pieces of velvet composing the picture are usually in such positions as to be appropriately covered by V embroidering over and near the same, either with silk of suitable color, or with gold or silver thread in the shape of binding or orna ments, as shown at a in the drawing, which renders less care necessary in joining the pieces.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a banner, the body of which is composed of the ordinary silk or other light material, while the picture portion secured thereto is composed of velvet painted, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The process of painting on velvet, by

first applying the ground-colors mixed with turpentine or other suitable volatile liquid, which will evaporate, for coloring the body of the velvet without rendering it unpliable, and then painting with oil-colors on the nap of the velvet, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

GOTTFRIED FROHE. Witnesses:

JNo. J. BONNER, EDWARD WILHELM, 

